England to play Italy in historic first international

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History will be made on Saturday October 19 when England and Italy play their first ever Rugby League international in a friendly fixture at Salford.

The match will take place just seven days before England kick-off Rugby League World Cup 2013 against Australia in the opening fixture of the 14-nation tournament at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, where Italy face Wales on the same day in an eagerly-anticipated double-header.

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I don't think that WC warm up games should be played in venues which will be hosting actual WC matches. As for the match itself, a lot depends on what sort of squad Italy bring over, but you'd expect England wouldn't be too troubled by them.

It should have been Lebanon

It would have been nice if some of the sides that didn't qualify could've been used by sides in the WC for warm up games, although then I guess we're back to the old issue of finances. I'm sure the likes of Lebanon would've loved to have tested themselves against one of the WC sides.

Edited July 3, 2013 by thirteenthman

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Didn't Italy play England and France in a triangular tournament in 52/53?

Regardless if nothing else this match will prove to be a good warm up for England leading into their clash against Australia. Italy will be forming a relatively strong squad and will be keen to show everyone how competitive they can be.

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Italy beat Russia this past week 38-18. Captained by the Australian Ray Nasso the Avignon hooker who was MOTM in this years Lord Derby Cup Final. Other French based players included centre Christophe Calegari & prop Cedric Prizzon.

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We'll be battle hardened for the world cup opener then, nothing like hammering a team full of part timers to prepare a side.

What a farce, they'd have been better off playing a team made up of players from the Championship.

The team will probably be quite strong but the galling thing to me is that they should be using more of the Italian players. I mean I can see the sense from a coach point of view, but it is a bit unfair imo.

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Not a fan of the choice of venue. Having it played in Italy would have been ideal, failing that a venue that didn't have a WC fixture. I'd say alot of the crowd for this match will be picking instead of and not aswell as a WC game.

Also a risky choice of opposition for England, if they slip up against a team seen as a minnow one week out from the World Cup it won't be a good look. Hopefully any media in the lead up to the game promotes the strength of the Italian team because they won't be shirt of NRL players